Capitalism’s protracted global crisis, now closing in on a decade, is at root a structural crisis of the productive forces. This in turn finds expression in society’s core political and ideological institutions, culture, roles, and rituals, all of which are being significantly affected.

New mass political parties and movements like Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, the Corbyn wing of the Labour Party in Britain, and Jean-Luc Melenchon’s Rebellious France have come from nowhere to challenge the system. The movement around Bernie Sanders is part of the same process, but it has no future unless it breaks with the Democratic Party.

Decades after the ruling class launched the one-sided “War on Drugs” targeting poor and minority neighborhoods, there is no end in sight. Since the turn of the century, the US has experienced its worst drug epidemic ever. At the forefront is the family of drugs known as opioids, which includes Oxycontin, heroin, and fentanyl.

On Wednesday, Americans received the jarring news that a US Congressman had been shot down during practice for a bipartisan baseball charity event. A nation chronically desensitized to images of sensational and senseless violence stopped its morning routine to observe the disturbing development of a mass shooting—something ordinarily reserved for children’s schools, “inner-city” crime, and faraway war zones—bringing down a senior Capitol Hill politician.

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Fundamentals of Marxism

Why We Are Marxists

A short introduction to the basic elements of Marxism and why socialism is the only way forward for humanity.